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REVIEW OF BURNING BRIGHT by Nick Petrie

BURNING BRIGHT Nick Petrie 2017 PutnamBURNING BRIGHT is the kind of follow up one hopes for when you read a really good debut novel. Last year’s THE DRIFTER has been embraced by readers and reviewers alike and BURNING BRIGHT justifies our enthusiasm. Peter Ash is back. As the novel opens he hiking the Redwood forests of the Pacific Northwest. He’s been living minimally since the close of the Drifter. Far from the maddening crowd if you will and then comes the bear. Running for his life Ash spots a tree and begins to climb. And we’re off. Up amongst the branches of Ancient Redwoods his next adventure awaits. Journalist June Cassidy is running from someone and she doesn’t know who. What she does know is her Mother has just died and was a professor specializing in Artificial Intelligence. Peter is skeptical until the parties hunting her find them both. What follows is a breath-taking escape from the forest and back into civilization.Peter Ash is here to stay. The loner character (Reacher, Hunter, Bourne) gets a nice update in Petrie’s series. Ash is a reluctant recluse and has already acquired an excellent group of supporting characters. They are all needed in BURNING BRIGHT, for behind the mystery of June’s Mother’s death is a sinister plot to take over the world. If you haven’t met Peter Ash yet, I suggest you do before you fall to far behind. Ruth Jordan